When recalibration is discussed, it’s usually in regards to some sort of machinery or clockworks. Sometimes weapons are recalibrated, so are sales strategies or investments.

I would guess that you’ve never spoken of recalibration in regards to your nutrition and exercise habits…but you should. The reason you should is because the society you live in is very, very spoiled.

Wait a second – did I sound like I was speaking directly to you? If so I’m sorry. I was speaking to myself as well – although I have done a fair job of recalibrating myself to the fitness lifestyle over the last 10 years.

The reason I mention 10 years is because I had a major relapse in 2003 – when my waist skyrocketed from 30 inches to over 44 inches in less than a year. Yeah…I know that’s horrendous.

And it’s important to know that none of us are beyond that relapse. None of us transcend beyond the desire for donuts, French fries, and other ‘heroin like’ goodies.

I’m going to be honest with you – America is addicted to a something that might possibly be even more addictive than heroin. That something is taste.

From the time you are born you are bombarded with food that is designed for nothing more than ultimate, satisfying, over the top flavor. It is concocted with only one thing in mind – a taste explosion in your mouth.

So what do you think happens when you are 25 and well on the way to obesity – and the old doc says “You need to eat healthier”? I’ll tell you what happens, you eat your first serving of vegetables in 3 years and you remember that they taste like crap!

But do they really? Or are you just addicted to the ridiculous amount of flavor that is contained in the garbage food you’ve been eating your whole life?

Let me give you an example. In 1997 I was eating baked potatoes from a restaurant that shall remain unnamed. They had cheese, butter, bacon, sour cream, and chives. They were a rocket ship of flavor. If flavor could fly you to outer space I’d have been through the stratosphere and weightless instantly – unfortunately flavor doesn’t fly you to outer space and a potato doctored up like that will make you quite the opposite of weightless.

Then in 1998 I decided to get lean (the goal was a six-pack). One of the first things I read was that plain baked potatoes were are a good choice for getting lean – so I dumped all the butter, bacon and cheese and got my next tater plain. I put on salt and pepper, tasted it, and…

It sucked.

It was a tasteless pile of dry white starch, and the first time I tried to eat it I barely got it down. But something funny happened over the course of a few weeks. I actually started tasting the potato…I mean the real taste of a potato.

It was a new taste, because I had never tasted a potato without the aid of 4 or 5 super calorie laden flavor enhancers. Then something even funnier happened…I started to like it.

I had recalibrated my taste buds. I now appreciated the taste of the nutritious potato instead of the ridiculous overkill flavor of fatty butter, cheese and bacon. I saw it as a bit of a miracle to be honest – but in reality it was just my body adjusting and becoming sensitive to the new flavors.

Now, as I stated earlier, you will never be immune to slipping back into the food heroin habit. I fell back into the habit in 2003 (just to be clear, I pulled myself out again in 2004 and haven’t been back in that deeply since), but with proper discipline you can recalibrate your taste buds to appreciate the the flavor of nutrition and beat obesity once and for all. How? I recommend cutting back slowly and letting yourself adjust to the new tastes.

Now get out there and get started!

-Jay

 
Exercise began long, long ago (as you can see from the quote above). Many great philosophers – Hippocrates, Corneleus Celsus, and Galen touted the benefits of exercise.

But let’s go back even further, an take a glimpse of where exercise truly came from.

Before 10,000 B.C. folks lived in tribes. Life was very difficult during this time period and merely surviving was a workout program in itself. Parties were sent out regularly to hunt and gather food. Often hunting and gathering excursions lasted days, not to mention the fact that the food had to be prepared and stored upon the parties return. Gatherings and celebrations with relatives and other tribes often occurred many miles away (sometimes up to 20 miles), and the tribe would trek this journey several times a year.

After 10,000 B.C. folks began to stay in one place more – but the level of exercise performed while farming was still super high. Exercise remained a staple for survival in most cultures right up through Roman times (200 B.C. -476 B.C). But here an eerie truth begins to unfold.

Rome was a powerhouse military and society – and during their conquering phase they were physically in top shape. They took over most of the western world with a very fit and healthy population.

Then something happened – they got civilized. Too civilized. They began to get soft as they got wealthier and acquired more technology. The Romans were also starting to get more and more consumed with entertainment (anyone see a trend here in our modern society?). As this transformation occurred the people grew softer and more complacent – and began to get out of shape.

In other words they lost the Eye of the Tiger. The Germanic Tribes (think Barbarians) hadn’t and when Rome was sedentary and weak enough, they took them over with their superior drive and physical fitness. In other words, these Barbarian dudes had the Eye of the Tiger.

Overall throughout history the trend was that almost everyone was in fantastic physical condition – out of necessity – with only a few exceptions scattered here and there. Usually those exceptions were annihilated.

Are we Mirroring Ancient Rome? Well, Rome slowly lost their physical prowess over about 4 centuries. They slowly got more sedentary and more wealth based over that time period. So, in actuality, we are ahead of the Romans in the race to a sedentary society by about 300 years – and that’s a race you don’ t want to win.

We have only been living in our current state of affairs for about a century. Over the last 100 years we have been slowly lessening our workload with bull dozers, tractors, assembly lines, riding lawn mowers, and kitchen appliances.

Now I’m not saying we are going to be taken over by Barbarians like the Romans because we have grown soft – but what I am saying is that we have followed the same trend the Romans did as a society. That means we need to snap out of and create a workload for ourselves.

We constantly look for ways to lessen our workload. It’s just the nature of things. Humans always try to push the boundaries – always try to make things easier.

For thousands of years the human race fought for survival. We ran from saber tooth tigers, tried to kill wooly mammoths (can you imagine what a job that would be?), and worked our little hairy apelike butts off trying to start a fire.

Necessity brings innovation – and before you know it we were rolling that mammoth leg home in a cart with stone Goodyear’s. Things began to get easier for us, but let’s be honest – they got easier, very, very slowly.

It’s still hard as balls to load a mammoth leg onto a rickety wooden cart and roll it over the hills to your camp 2 miles away. It’s difficult to try to learn to farm, to plow fields and to harvest your crops.

Things were really physically demanding, though slowly getting slightly easier – until the turn of the century. When 1900 rolled around, things began to shift fast here in America.

For example – the first airplane was flown in 1903 – and in 1969 Neil Armstrong’s butt was on the moon. That’s quick innovation man.

Air travel wasn’t the only technology that moved forward by leaps and bounds. Every other facet of living became more automated as well. Computers were invented. Automatic dishwashers. Gasoline powered tractors. Cars. We didn’t even have to get up to change the channel on the television starting in 1950 when the first remote control was invented (it was called Lazy Bones by the way, a work of palmistry that would rival Nostradamus I daresay).

Physical labor was still there throughout the 20^th Century, but it was decreasing dramatically. And with it – the calories the human race burned on a daily basis was decreasing dramatically as well. Hello obesity.

Muscles that were once used to move harsh dirt for seed planting was now being moved by machines. Cotton that was once picked by hand was picked by a mechanical Cotton Picker. The list goes on.

The human race began to atrophy – and with that atrophy began to develop diseases of disuse. Obesity, diabetes, heart disease and countless other ailments.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hope you enjoyed that snippet from the new book – I’ll be adding these weekly for a bit here. Stay motivated and I’ll talk to you again very soon!

-Jay

Well let’s take the CE-Fitness Triad as an example. Let me explain. In my business I have something called the CE-Fitness Triad. Imagine a triangle – at the top of this triangle is “mindset”. At the bottom of the base you have “nutrition” on one side and “exercise” on the other.

Truly the base of any fitness program is nutrition and exercise. But let’s dig deeper. What actually makes you adhere to a nutrition plan? What makes you stick to an exercise program? What actually gets your butt off the couch and forces the machinery of the body to do that first repetition?

You might have guessed it. It’s the mind.

Without the cooperation of the biological super computer in your head – you ain’t doing squat (no pun intended). The first step in any exercise/nutrition program (or any other endeavor in your life for that matter) is learning to control your mind.

So how do you control your mind?

The first step is overcoming what Stephen Pressfield calls “resistance.” Resistance is what keeps you sitting on the couch even though you know you need to get up and exercise. Resistance is what makes you put off that diet until tomorrow.

One thing I recently learned, and that has helped me immensely with success in my life, is that motivation comes after action. If you sit around waiting to become motivated to do something, you are likely to be sitting a very, very long time.

The solution to this problem (a problem that plagues everyone and completely disables most) is to take action NOW. Not next week, not tomorrow, not even this afternoon. Do it now.

Once you begin doing – the procrastination weakens – it has lost its grip on you. You begin to flow forward, make progress – and trust me, that is what we all crave. Improvement and progress – being better today than you were yesterday.

Brushing Your Teeth

Often, when I speak to a client about getting in the habit of working out – I ask them a simple question.

Did you brush your teeth last night?

They usually answer “Of course!”

To which I say “What if you hadn’t – how would that have made you feel?”

They reply “gross”, “unclean” or “nasty”.

I tell them “Well that’s how you should feel when you skip a workout.”

Until you get to the point of feeling downright nasty and unclean when you miss a workout – you likely won’t mind missing one. And until you mind missing a workout – you aren’t going to adhere to a program. Period.

21 Days to a Habit

The general consensus among laymen is 21 days to form a habit – be that good or bad. In actuality this is just a random number that might or might not have merit. Some studies show folks getting a habit in a week or two, and for some it took a much longer time frame.

I’m sure that physical addiction plays a role in many of these studies. For example the habit of smoking cigarettes is greatly accelerated by the addiction to nicotine and other chemicals in the tobacco. Common sense would tell you that drinking a glass of water after each meal just wouldn’t have the “habitual” quality of a post feeding nicotine laced cigarette.

So different “habits” will take different amounts of time to develop – and different people will take different time frames to develop a habit based on genetics, predisposition,etc. So what does all of this mean? In my opinion, nothing.

The truth is it doesn’t matter. You must force yourself to overcome resistance, work out consistently, and eat healthfully until the habit of exercise and nutrition form for you. The time frame is irrelevant.

That is what most nutrition and exercise books fail to take into account. You are a very individual person. You are a unique entity that has wants, desires, and needs that are different from any other human on earth. If you are to be successful in changing your life for the better – you simply must acknowledge the fact that you are unique – and that your journey will be as unique as you are…

Hey guys it’s your old pal Jay – the preceding was a snippet of my new book. Hope you liked it. I’ll be giving you small bits and pieces as I go…and I hope the final product is a great help to you in your quest for fitness! Talk so you again soon.

nil desperandum – NEVER GIVE UP!!

-Jay

Learning how to use Audacity. Setting up a new website. Installing WordPress. Installing plugins on WordPress. Watching YouTube Videos to learn how to use Libsyn – the storehouse for my podcast. Learning to link the podcast to the WordPress blog. Recording the Podcast…and on and on.

I did all of this yesterday. Now, all that aside, do you know what I didn’t want to do when I got up yesterday? Any of that. I wanted to lie around all day and do nothing. Resistance had the better of me upon waking yesterday. It was using its ally – rationalization – to tell me that I had put in a hard week – and that I deserved to waste my day watching pointless Netflix movies.

So why did I get so much done yesterday if I had rationalized that doing nothing was fine and dandy? Because I recognized resistance. I spent 10 years with the guy – I know what he looks like. He comes in disguised as procrastination or rationalization. He says “You should start that tomorrow – it’s been such a tough week.” He’s not lying – it had been a tough week.

But if you wait for a week that isn’t tough to get started on your dreams – well – you’ll never get a thing done.

These thoughts come from a book I read recently. I was able to connect the words of the author with the thoughts of my life. The book I read is The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield.

If you keep putting things off until tomorrow; if you keep rationalizing why you should start a project “later”, then I recommend you pick up this book and start living your life in attack mode.

The difference between me at 23 years old and me at 33 years old is vast – but it mostly has to do with this concept. If I could go back in time and instill one quality in my 23 year old self – overcoming resistance would be that quality. Sure, I did it fine in one area at 23 – with my body and fitness – but I applied it to virtually no other areas of my life.

At least I do now. No matter your age you can do the same thing. Start attacking.

You are on a fitness website – a site designed to help you get in fantastic shape and stay that way. This is your opportunity to overcome resistance. If you have been planning to get in shape but haven’t done so because “it just isn’t’ the right time” or “I’ll do that tomorrow” – it’s time to get your butt in gear.

I remember the old scene in Rocky III where Apollo Creed is trying to train a down and out Rocky Balboa for his comeback fight against Clubber Lang. Apollo keeps socking Rocky with a hook time and time again – and Rocky makes no move to block it. A frustrated Apollo screams “What’s the matter with you!?!?!” Rocky replies “Tomorrow.” “There is no tomorrow!” an enraged Apollo screams back.

If you don’t think life is a fight – well, you may need more help than this particular blog can give you. But I can tell you one thing for certain:  If you put things off until tomorrow – they likely won’t be done at all.

So what’s the answer? Overcome resistance. Attack. And do it today. There is no tomorrow.

nil desperandum – NEVER GIVE UP!!!

Jay

Everything must be used in moderation.

Even wonderful things like water and vitamins can be used to excess. There is such a thing as water toxicity – that’s right, too much water can lead to death.

Moderation.

Vitamins are good in the proper ratios, but consuming too many can be more damaging that not having enough.

Moderation.

Salt? A new study has shown that you can indeed eat too little – and it’s not good. Too much and you turn into a human water balloon. You called it –

Moderation

Have you ever met the health freak that hasn’t eaten a cheeseburger or fried food in 10 years? What a way to live – depriving yourself of wonderful tasting food. Sounds like a blast. No thanks.

Moderation.

How about the obsessive compulsive person who has to check that they locked the door 101 times before they feel like they can leave the house? Too much of a good thing? I think so too.

Moderation.

How about the bodybuilder who is 5’10”, 230lbs with 10% bodyfat – but puts on a sweater to cover his body because he is embarrassed – that he is so small… Body dysmorphia? Caused from lack of what?

Moderation.

Be moderate to be happy. Enjoy the fine things in life but do so in moderation. Special occasion? Have some cake or a cheeseburger – just don’t have those things every single day.

Moderation.

I’ll talk to you again soon,

Jay

NEWS SEGMENTS

Sure, you read my blogs, and you get bits and pieces of my personality from News interviews and videos that I produce. But honestly, how much can you learn about a person in a 3-7 minute News Segment? The answer: not very much.

BLOGS

How much can you learn about someone in a blog? Well, over time you might be able to piece together snippets of my personality and form some resemblance of my actual personality – but you still don’t really know what I’m like.

YOUTUBE

YouTube Videos? I like video format, but hearing me chat for 10 minutes (usually scripted) is not the best way to understand who I am and just why I am doing what I’m doing with my life.

THE ANSWER

So what is the answer? What mysterious media can actually let you know who I am – let you know my full personality, and be the next best thing to being my actual client? I think that I have found the answer – and it’s a Podcast.

Think about it. No censoring, no time limits, no holds barred. The real me.

Those of you that know me understand that I am a “different” type of personality. I like 100’s of topics – everything from chess to video games – from dogs to Sasquatch. I’ve done stand-up comedy, T.V., written a book, competed in Bodybuilding, oh, and I’ve failed at more things that you can possibly imagine. And I’m not afraid to talk about it.

I’ve also got tons of things lined up for the future, and those will be covered in real time. My biggest goal in life is not money, its experiences. Conquering new ground – and doing things I’ve never done before.

Now don’t get me wrong – the underlying structure of my Podcast will be fitness – the mindset, nutrition, and exercise of staying in shape will always be right under the surface – but I plan for this Podcast to be more “Jay Scott” than “Fitness.”

That being said, many people will probably hate this thing. More than once my strange topics have just made folks think I’m weird (I probably am). This Podcast won’t be for those folks. If you don’t like to ask yourself ‘why?’, then you probably won’t enjoy my Podcast (or me for that matter)…but one things for sure – you will indeed know the real me.

And in my opinion that is a big step toward trusting someone with your body, your investment in Personal Training, and your valuable time. Hey, you might even like it.

So get ready for a new medium to learn about fitness – and well, any other subject you can possibly think of. Everything from working out to worm holes will be covered.

I’ll talk to you soon,

Jay Scott

CE-Fitness Personal Training

The best seminar at the Summit was the one by Alan Aragon. He titled it 20 Burning Questions – and I’m going to go over the stand out points I took from it in this edition of the blog. These points are not put together in any kind of cohesive format, so just read them and absorb them one at a time.

Now, settle back and get ready for some great nuggets of information!

• Knowledge is always evolving. While we know much more than we have in the past – everything we know will always be improving and evolving.

• Is sugar toxic? The toxic amount for the human body is 6lbs of sugar. If you ingest that quantity you will be in danger of death.

• From 1970 to present calories consumed on a daily basis have gone up by 400-500 calories per day.

• From 1970 to present total calories burned in one’s occupation has gone down 142 calories per day.

• Gluten is not a concern for 90% of the population – and even within that 10% that are “intolerant” very few will have “serious” side effects from it.

• Dietary habits of the worlds healthiest populations: plant based, no overeating, carbs from beans, 3 out of 5 regular coffee drinkers, 4 out of 5 regular alcohol consumers, none follow Paleo Diet

• Nutrient Timing: Not much has changed as of yet – future research will determine if eating certain things at certain times of day has any notable effect.

• 1g/pound of body weight daily in protein is optimal and proven by science.

• Carbs at night? This study: sofer et al 2011 shows people who ate majority of carbs at night actually lost slightly more fat over 6 months than those who ate them spread throughout the day.

• Humans and Cattle have similar energy metabolism – useful when comparing research.

• Gross Energy -> Digestible Energy-> Metabolizable Energy-> Net Energy – and that is used for maintenance, growth, and reproduction

• Is starvation mode real? In extreme dieting metabolism can drop by 15% or so, this can be offset by 1. Protein intake 2. Resistance Training 3. Not losing weight too fast

• Lichtman Study – 47% of people underreported calories on fat loss plan – 51% over reported activity on their fat loss plan: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1454084

• People trying to gain muscle have high NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis). That means they are jittery, and always active – thus it makes it harder for them to gain muscle (this is mainly for dudes looking to get big and strong folks).

• Linear Dieting is OK if you are “normal” in terms of body fat etc., but those looking to get in contest condition need non- linear dieting (refeeds, higher carb days, etc.).

• Scientific research is not perfect, but if you dissect it and look at studies – you can see it will lean one way or the other. Then you can lean that way as well.

So, there ya go! A great seminar by Alan that my “hacked up” version just doesn’t do justice. I will say that I was very happy that my own research matched with Alan’s – which means that my book Live Fit Live Free is still a super solid publication for those looking to get into great shape and lose fat (and it’s in an easy to read format).

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the blog – and I’ll be back again really soon with a blog that is more “meaty” and less “nuggety”! Have a great beginning of the week – and I’ll talk to you again soon!

nil desperandum – NEVER GIVE UP!!!

Jay Scott

CE-Fitness Personal Training

Tomorrow I’ll be at Busch Stadium to watch the Cardinals and the Reds, and then I’m spending the next day in St. Louis. Probably visit the arch and walk the loop, I’ve seen the arch and been in St. Louis before so I wouldn’t consider this innovative and new – but I do hope it’s relaxing.

After that it’s on to Kansas City(where I have never been before). The main reason I’m there is for The Fitness Summit. I think it’s going to be a good time, and I’ll get to meet a lot of like-minded folks at The Summit.

Also Alan Aragon is going to be speaking – and Alan is a guy I have really looked up to for a long time (since 2009 or so).

Funny story about Alan – back in 2008 when I was living in Orlando – I visited a discussion board and heard a guy saying you could, in theory, eat Twinkies for breakfast and still lose fat. I thought this was ridiculous and immediately began to argue with this guy.

Every time I would give what I thought was a valid argument for 6 meals a day, small meals, low glycemic index, or any other “point” that was laden with propaganda – this guy would post a study and destroy my argument. It was frustrating to be totally proven wrong on so many levels, but it was also enlightening.

That guy was Alan Aragon.

Finally I had to admit he was right and I was wrong. So what did I do? Changed my screen name silly! I changed my screen name and made another one – then I posted in support of Alan! Hahaha!

That’s a funny story – but it’s also a testament to Alan, a truly great mind in nutrition. And this week I’ll finally get to hear Alan speak in person!

I’m going to take a lot of pictures, and hopefully some of them will be worthy of the blog. I’m taking my laptop so I plan on blogging while I’m on the road. I won’t be leaving you hanging completely.

Also, my second Hotel has a Casino in it, so I’m going to be playing blackjack and slots. I’ll keep you updated on how much money I lose.

Until next time stay diligent on your nutrition and keep up with your workouts. It’s spring, and trust me when I say that nothing feels better in the Spring and Summer than a great physique.

nil desperandum – NEVER GIVE UP!!!

Jay Scott

CE-Fitness Personal Training

Local Television another goal – and one that has – at least on some scale succeeded. Writing a book was a lofty goal; and it has been accomplished.

So many things have come to pass; and many of them have been accomplished. Many more things have come into being, and have been casualties in the war for success.

Those things have given their lives for my future success. They are failures for sure, but they are also tuition. Tuition in my education of success.

Let it be known for those of you venturing into unknown territory that there are many times more failures than successes – and that those failures simply cannot be taken personally.

Indeed if I were to take failure personally I would have stopped trying to move forward long ago. Is it being thick skinned? I don’t think so – I think it’s having a high pain tolerance. Each failure hurts, but determination trumps the pain and I continue to move forward.

Sometimes I think I haven’t moved that far at all – but the truth is that my business in its current iteration is only about 2 ½ years old. When I think about things in that perspective – I have indeed came a long, long way in my endeavors.

Things are going great – but those of us who are moving forward and constantly conquering new ground must always have a new goal in sight. Honestly I’m not sure I’m ready to tell you all of my new goals just yet – because, as usual, some are a little too far into the stratosphere to be believable…yet anyway.

What I will tell you is this:

• I am working on a new book called Food for Thought

• I am listening to a lot of Podcasts lately (hint hint)

Honestly I think that should tell you that big things are in the works. Will they come to fruition? I don’t know – and that fear of uncertainty – that feeling of “can I really do this?” – well, that’s what makes me want to get up in the morning.

It’s my version of skydiving. It’s my version of gambling. It’s my back flip on a dirt bike. It’s just what I do.

I’ll leave you with one thing – regardless of whether I personally start a Podcast or not – I want you to look into them. I’m currently listening to a Podcast by Dan Carlin called Hardcore History. It’s all about Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire – and it’s fantastic.

I suggest you look this one up if you love history – he has everything from World War II to Napoleon in Podcast format; interesting stuff for sure, and Dan is a great storyteller.

So there is a little look into my crystal ball – I will give you a deeper look as time goes on. Until then remember: if you have a dream in your life go for it. Do not waste your life – ‘live it to the hilt’ as Doc Holliday said in the movie Tombstone.

nil desperandum – NEVER GIVE UP!!!!

Jay Scott

CE-Fitness Personal Training

Now I’m not saying that rings true with everything – but it certainly does ring true with a great many things. As a personal trainer I often see folks looking for the “magic bullet”.

They see huge crowds dedicated to “low carb” and they feel that that must be the answer. They hear about P90x from all of their friends, and they think that must be the solution to their weight loss dilemma.

In essence they find what they are sure is the “magic bullet”; realize it doesn’t work – and then they are right on to the next “magic bullet”. This endless loop leaves them depressed, confused, and well – still fat.

Well I have one thing to say about that. Screw magic bullets.

There is no secret Russian workout that will pile mounds of muscle on you. There is not miracle pill that will allow you to eat 3 pounds of cheesecake a day and have a six-pack. For the last time (actually I say it one more time later):

THERE IS NO FREAKING SECRET.

People who look for easy fixes inevitably end up disappointed – looking up to those who put in the hard work with longing, envious eyes. From the outside those “hard workers” look like they have it made. They look like they were given everything.

What they don’t understand is the hard work and suffering that got the hard worker there in the first place. From the outside those people can’t see the stacks of rejection letters the famous author had to endure to reach the best seller list. They can’t see the movie star with a six pack refusing the free fillet mignon and caviar offered to him (probably free)every time he steps into a fine NY restaurant.

One of my friends said “You look great, must be wonderful to have your genetics. You probably can eat whatever you want and look great.” Yeah right. Must be nice to have that fantasy about me, but I can assure you that I work very hard for what I’ve got.

That guy with great genetics was 130lbs and had a little gut in high school. Suffice to say I was definitely the runt of the litter.

So how did I succeed? Well by my estimation I have had about 5840 days since high school, and I have eaten enough protein to support my muscle about 5830 of those days. I think I didn’t get enough protein about 5 days during that time (I can actually remember those days).

As for working out – the most time I have taken off since 1998 is 5 weeks (at once). I had a bout of depression after my best friend’s death – and lost interest in most everything, including working out. Other than that time frame I’ve taken off a week at a time (on purpose for recovery) about 7-8 weeks total. That is a grand total of about 12-13 weeks that I didn’t work out in 15 years.

The combination of those two things (protein intake and working out) is how I have built and maintained my muscle.

Now on to staying lean. During that time period (15-16 years) I would say I was under 10% body fat about 3000 of those days – between 10 and 15% body fat about 2000 of them, and 15% and up the remaining 840 or so of those days (some of that time I was considered obese).

What that means is that my calories were on average around 2000 or under over 50% of the time since 1997 (to maintain under 10% body fat). About 35% of that time my calories were under 2500 daily (to maintain 10-15% body fat). And my calories were over 2500 about 15% of my life since 1997 (which resulted in my being obese).

Now when you take into consideration that the average American now consumes about 2800 calories a day – you can see the reason we have a problem. There numbers are way off when you compare them to someone who is in shape.

There are two main rules that I teach in my business – and they cannot be escaped – not with the Paleo diet, not with vegetarianism, not with low carb, not with the grapefruit diet – they are simply inescapable. What are they?

1. Eat the proper amount of food to elicit the change you want in your body. Less if you want to lose weight, more if you want to gain weight.

2. Exercise more to burn off calories – but mostly to shape and tone your body.

If you are looking for something that will bend those rules then you may as well be looking for Bigfoot. Actually your chances of finding a Sasquatch are far better than finding a diet plan that defies the laws of physics.

You have to eat less than you burn off in order to lose weight. That means eating less and exercising more– and doing it consistently day in and day out.

BE CONSISTENT

The tortoise kicks the crap out of the hare. Consistency is key when losing weight and getting a great physique (whether that is a muscular physique or long lean female physique).

Excuse my Self Examination

Now I usually don’t talk about myself very much in my blog – but in this edition I made an exception. I wanted to show you that hard work is how you achieve things. There is no “get rich quick” scheme and there is no “get fit quick” scheme. It takes time; it did for me, and it will for you.

So once again, when it comes to getting rich or fit:

THERE IS NO FREAKING SECRET.

And lets add one more line:

THERE IS ONLY HARD WORK AND DISCIPLINE.

Commit to living a healthy lifestyle based on fitness and you’ll get the results you desire.

If you decide to keep looking through every new diet book and exercise program for the “magic bullet” then you’ll be looking for the rest of your life. It’s time to understand that nothing replaces hard work and consistency; and nothing replaces eating less and exercising more. Nothing.

Now get busy reading the blog and start putting in the work – I guarantee you the way you will feel at the pool, on the beach, or just out taking a stroll will make it all worth it.

nil desperandum – NEVER GIVE UP!!!

Jay Scott

CE-Fitness Personal Training